Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
III. Soziale Ordnungen / Social orders - Lisa A. Lindsay: Money, Marriage and Masculinity on the Colonial Nigerian Railway: A Case Study of Imperialism, Railways and Gender in Africa
Lisa A. Lindsay family wage. This does not mean that colonial officials in Nigeria did not support the idea that male workers should financially support their immediate families. Similarly, in a period of inflation and increasingly assertive trade unions, labor activists called for family allowances or family wages as a strategy for raising general salary levels. There was not necessarily a contradiction between male breadwinners and women’s work, and female trade coexisted with the expression of patriarchal ideals. The arguments for family wages dovetailed by the 1950s with official pronouncements about the role of railway wives. In 1956 the Nigerian Railway Corporation began publishing Nigerail: the Journal of the Nigerian Railway Corporation for its sizable number of literate employees. By this time, many railway officials, including the magazine’s editor, were Nigerian, although senior positions were still in the hands of Europeans. The second edition of Nigerail introduced a page called “Claypot Club: for the Benefit of Wives and Daughters of Railwaymen.” “No railway man can be efficient and happy without the fullest co-operation of his wife (his better self)” began the introduction, “and it is to this end that this column is reserved for the benefit of our womenfolk.” The editor then invited women to submit their letters for future publication. Surprisingly, since no call for letters had been issued previously, a note from a “Station- master’s Wife” appeared in that very issue. It seems to have been written by Sam Epelle, Nigerail's editor. Under the headline “Mrs. Stationmaster Says-Let’s Give Our Menfolk Happy Home Life,” the letter voiced views typical of railway management, colonial officials, and - to some extent - workers themselves. “Mrs. Stationmaster” began by referring to railwaymen as breadwinners: “[...] My friends and I know what goes on in the Railway where our husbands, fathers and relatives make their (and our) living.” Then she emphasized the importance of women in reproducing the railway labor force. “Our message to women all over the railway system,” the anonymous writer suggested, is that they should give their menfolk a happy and comfortable home life which can stimulate them to greater output and achievement. It is only by doing so that we, the wives, can assist the growth of Nigeria’s greatest means of transport. The progress of the Railway is our progress; its future is our future, for the livelihood of our men and their families depends on the successful and profitable operation of the railway system.'2 32 Nigerail: Journal of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (December 1956), p. 4. In: Edward Charles Ealey papers, Rhodes House library (Oxford) 242
